Lubbock man accused of abusing family member

In the second day of his trial, Tony Cervantez took the stand Wednesday and told jurors he signed without reading a statement to Lubbock police that had him admitting to fondling a 7-year-old family member in 2007. He signed the statement, he testified, because he believed he would get probation.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, said Cervantez signed the statement because he was caught lying.

Acknowledging to Judge Brad Underwood he understood testifying meant waiving his privilege against self-incrimination, Cervantez, dressed in a gray button-down shirt and slacks, gave his version of events the night his accuser said he touched her inappropriately seven years ago.

The Avalanche-Journal does not identify accusers in sexual assault cases.

Cervantez, who is out on bond, is facing a first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child, after a family member told police in 2007 he sexually abused her three times.

During his testimony, Cervantez, a 40-year-old truck driver, said he came home from work the night of the alleged fondling incident, had dinner and took a shower. He said he noticed the light was on in a hallway bathroom and found the accuser in it.

He said he told the girl to go back to sleep, escorted her to her bedroom and threw a blanket over her.

He said he went to sleep after that and was woken by his wife screaming at him.

“She was pissed,” he said.

He said he tried to ignore his wife and go back to sleep but eventually left his home and stayed with his sister.

Other than going to the Children’s Advocacy Center office, he has not had contact with the accuser since.

He said he met with Lubbock police Detective John Bentley later and gave a statement denying the molestation.

The detective called for another meeting two days later because more information about the case surfaced, Cervantez said.

During that meeting, Bentley told him he would go to prison for years based on the accuser’s outcry, Cervantez said. He said the detective told him in exchange for Cervantez’s cooperation he would recommend the district attorney give him probation.

Cervantez said he was scared and was only thinking about not being able to support his children if he went to prison. So he signed a second statement, without reading it, in which he admitted to inappropriately touching the accuser, he said.

“I just left it up to him (Bentley),” he said. “He knew the law; he knew what to write to get me probation.”

The statement Cervantez signed stated he touched the accuser’s chest but did not have an erection and denies putting his hands down her pants.

Bentley testified Tuesday and denied making promises or threatening Cervantez with prison time.

Allegations of more abuse came weeks after Cervantez signed the statement, and the initial charge of inappropriate contact with a minor he faced was enhanced to aggravated sexual assault.

Cervantez denied on the stand to having anal sex with the accuser.

Under cross-examination, prosecutor Sean Long said there was another reason Cervantez signed the second statement.

“Wasn’t it true that investigators caught you in a lie?” Long asked Cervantez.

Long was referring to a polygraph test Cervantez reportedly failed.

Polygraph test results are inadmissible in court and Long did not directly reference the test before jurors. The questions Cervantez reportedly failed were not discussed in court.

Cervantez said that wasn’t the case.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday after bringing another teenage family member to the stand, who said she saw Cervantez put his hands on the accuser’s chest and down her pants.

Cervantez said he believed the accuser’s father orchestrated the allegations to win a custody lawsuit and the second family member was also coached. He said the accuser is also trying to hurt his wife with the allegations.

During Tuesday’s trial, the accuser gave a timeline of abuse that contradicted with when her family changed homes.

She said Cervantez molested her first, then had anal sex with her twice on separate occasions.

Patricia Salazar, a sexual abuse nurse examiner, said she found two healing scars on the accuser’s anus. She said the scars indicate the girl was likely injured two to six weeks before the exam.

Long said based on Salazar’s testimony, it would make more sense for the two episodes of anal sex to have happened before the fondling.

However, Salazar said while the scars are consistent with the accuser’s allegations, she could not determine if the injuries were from anal sex.

Cervantez’s attorneys presented an alternate theory about how the accuser was injured.

They called a relative of the girl who described the teen as dishonest.

The relative, Cervantez’s wife, recalled three instances the accuser suffered from severe constipation that led to bleeding.

However, in her testimony, Salazar said a patient would have to have an extremely severe case of constipation to leave the scars she found in the accuser. She said the patient would require medical attention.

Under cross-examination, Cervantez’s wife said she forgot to tell Salazar about the accuser’s history of constipation because she wanted to end the exam quickly.

She said she now believes the girl is lying about the allegations.

She said she wouldn’t still be with Cervantez if she didn’t think he was innocent.

However, she admitted to being angry with him the day the girl told her about the fondling because she was reminded of her own history of sexual abuse. She said her grandfather abused her when she was a child.

“I took it out on him,” she said.

She said the girl told her Cervantez touched her chest while trying to put a blanket on her.

She also said she believed the allegations were concocted by the girl’s father.

Both sides rested their case Wednesday, and the trial was cut short to give Underwood time to form the jury’s instruction for deliberating the case.

The trial is scheduled to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday with closing arguments.